Nationalisms and Post-Colonial Identity: Culture and Ideology in India and Egypt (Routledge Advances in Middle East and Islamic Studies)

This book argues that the seemingly intractable political problems that face India and Egypt today have their origins in the ideological and political crises of the early 20th century. Book Cover......Page 1 Title......Page 4 Contents......Page 5 Preface......Page 10 Acknowledgements......Page 12 Introduction......Page 14 Nationalism as cultural politics......Page 28 The prehistory of Gandhian nationalism......Page 57 A tragedy of idealism: utopianism and the imagined community of Gandhi's Hind Swaraj......Page 84 The making and unmaking of Gandhian ideology: Raja Rao's Kanthapura......Page 117 An anatomy of Egyptian secular-liberal nationalism......Page 154 Tawfiq al-Hakim and the dark side of Egyptian secular-liberal nationalist discourse......Page 182 Naguib Mahfouz, national allegory and neopatriarchy: the Cairo Trilogy......Page 213 Reflections on nationalism, culture and ideology in India and Egypt......Page 250 Notes......Page 258 Index......Page 296 "How have nations and nationhood become the dominant form of political organization today? What is the role of culture in nationalism? In what ways have the ideological development of nationalisms in the post-colonial world shaped understandings of contemporary political problems, such as the rise of radical Islam, communalism, and the failure of secular-liberal democracy?" "This book offers the first comparative study of two highly significant anticolonial nationalisms. Its close analysis of nationalist discourse in India and Egypt is situated within a new theoretical framework for studying nationalism, based on a trenchant critique of theorists such as Benedict Anderson, Ernest Gellner, Eric Hobsbawm and Anthony Smith."--Jacket Interdisciplinary Studies Book Cover 1 Title 4 Contents 5 Preface 10 Acknowledgements 12 Introduction 14 Nationalism as cultural politics 28 The prehistory of Gandhian nationalism 57 A tragedy of idealism: utopianism and the imagined community of Gandhi's Hind Swaraj 84 The making and unmaking of Gandhian ideology: Raja Rao's Kanthapura 117 An anatomy of Egyptian secular-liberal nationalism 154 Tawfiq al-Hakim and the dark side of Egyptian secular-liberal nationalist discourse 182 Naguib Mahfouz, national allegory and neopatriarchy: the Cairo Trilogy 213 Reflections on nationalism, culture and ideology in India and Egypt 250 Notes 258 Index 296 Anshuman A. Mondal. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 245-282) And Index.